In 2014, Thon raised $13.34 million. In 2015, $13.026 million. In 2016, after a post-fundraising car wreck claimed a student's life and "canning" was canceled, Thon raised $9.77 million. On canning trips, students would fan out across the state to solicit hundreds of thousands of dollars in cans on roadsides.

Thon has raised more than $137 million since its inception in 1977. This is the event's 40th anniversary. It features more than 700 students and thousands of spectators, all designed to raise money for the Four Diamonds Fund, which benefits pediatric cancer patients and their families at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. It is billed as the largest student-run philanthropy in the world, serving 3,700 families.